Hi all

I've been asked by a few folks to write up my Alaska hunt like I did my African ones over the last few years. Since I kind of enjoy it, and what the heck, I didn't do too badly, here goes.

Alaskan Hunt 2010

This hunt was originally started out in late 2007 by my plan to have a return to Zimbabwe in 2009, and looking to do something in 2008. Little did I know that I would have the Zambian Lion hunt drop in my lap at that time, so I discussed what I would like to try with my booking agent, and since I had been bitten by the dangerous game bug, I signed up for a Brown Bear hunt with John Peterson's Bristol Bay outfitters in the Togiak Wildlife Refuge near Dillingham, Alaska. I promptly ordered a bad weather gun from Dakota Arms, and proceeded to wait for September to arrive. In the meantime, the Zambian hunt came up, and John Pete was kind enough to let me put the hunt off until 2010, as I had the return trip to Zimbabwe booked already for 2009. In 2009, I decided that if I was already going up to Alaska, and since 10 days was "not enough time" for a big game hunt, I would also fulfill a lifetime desire to shoot a moose as well. I talked with the nice booking agent, and hooked up with Fred Sorensen's outfit near Fairbanks for that, based on the history of high success and a 60" average for moose (which Fred later told me was a bit exaggerated, its actually around 58", although I can't tell the difference without a tape measure...) After some trials and tribulations getting things to mesh together for scheduling, I ended up with 7 hunting days for the moose, 10 hunting days for the bear, and 5 travel days.

I talked and emailed both Fred and John Pete regularly, trying to get my gear selections made. I was probably a bit of a pest, but in the end, I got everything I needed, and unfortunately, then some. Fred was good with the 330 Dakota as a moose gun, and while John Pete would have rather had me use a .375 H&H for the bear, he did grant that if I did my part, the .338 short mag would do the trick.

I spent a part of the summer of 2009, and a good part of 2010 getting a load together for the rifle. In the end, maximum charges of H4350 and a 250 grain Swift A-Frame ended up being the choice (the load is an unpublished Dakota Arms load that is over the "official" manual loads). The rifle would consistently put these out at 2700 FPS and into a little less than 1" at 100 yards, so I was good to go there. With the clothing, I ended up being more of a problem. I knew I would be out for 3 weeks, and as such I felt I needed to have 3 changes of clothes, 4 sets of underwear, and 8 sets of socks. I should have cut that way back. I also brought plenty of heavy stuff too. I would cut back what I brought about back by half in the future. It cost me $350 in luggage fees on Delta to get out, and on the way between Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaskan and Penn Air charged $50. To get home, I had lost about 10# of junk (hand warmers, books, etc.) and while Penn Air charged their $50, Delta had to charge their $ also, but a kindly ticket agent only charged $250 instead of the $350 (due to the big duffel bag being over 70#) that I should have been nailed for. If I had been really lucky, the staff at Penn Air would have been able to check me through for just the$50, but that was not to be. I will also point out that the "bargain" flight services are not always the best choice. My initial thought was to book my flights on Expedia.com and do it all myself. When it looked like all my options were 2-3 layover flights, I called my good friend Shawn Kennedy at Gracy Travel in Texas to get something set up. It turns out that there are nonstop options on Delta to Alaska, and since less plane changing equals more likelihood that your gun gets there, I just used their services. I think if you know what you are looking for on Delta's website, you can do it, but Shawn did all the work, and later when the flights were all changed around due to weather in the bush, she made sure that I got where I needed to go.

On September 9th, after working for the better part of the day, I left for Minneapolis St Paul. My mom wanted to drive me up, and given that my return flight was scheduled to get back at 6 AM in 3 weeks, just leaving the car at the airport was just too spendy. The flight to Fairbanks was fairly uneventful. I had to get to Pike's Waterfront Lodge via shuttle. Unfortunately, they said they were sending someone, then it slipped their minds and after waiting for 45 minutes I called them back, and another 20 minutes later someone arrived. They did not give me the message that Ann, the lady that would drive us to the bush flight, would be there at 9. What's more, the restaurant at the hotel closed at 9 PM, which was 5 minutes after I arrived at the hotel. After eating Pizza Hut for supper ($13 for a small pizza in Alaska) I went to bed, as I had an early morning , or so I thought. I had been told in an email that Ann would be there at 7, so I spent 2 hours with all my gear in the lobby. There I met Louie, a ex used car dealer from Alabama (Roll Tide...) a big Alabama football fan, fairly prolific North American big game hunter, and all-around nice guy. He was to be hunting in the same camp with Fred also. There were also a father-son group that was hunting with the pilot's outfit (Art Ward) who hunts an area next to Fred. Louie was the only one of us who had gotten the time message from the hotel. We ended up being a bit late getting going because of this, so we did not have a chance to get some beer or whiskey for camp. Not a big issue.

We arrived at Skip and Ann's house. Skip is a local Taxidermist and a sheep specialist. I saw many nice Dall ram mounts at his place, and thought I would really like to get one someday. Skip also has a Grizzly bear skull. A big grizzly bear skull. 29+ inches. Its the B&C record bear. He found it as a pick up on the tundra somewhere. I got to hold this artifact, and it is very impressive. They also have a very nice house with quite the trophy collection. They are just under the flight path for Eielson Air Force Base, which is one of the main USAF training bases. Ann said that usually at least annually they have to replace windows due to damage from sonic booms from the overflying aircraft. We bought our licenses here, and given that I was going bear hunting and supposedly doing some fishing later, my license and all the required tags was $1200. The fishing license was almost $400 because I had to buy the year long version as I would be there for more than 15 days. I later never wetted a line, but big dreams and all...

Cub- movie of Louie taking off.





Art Ward flew Louie out first. Unfortunately for Louie, he didn't see any moose on his flight. I was second, and I got quite the show. I saw multiple moose on the flight, including one that Art thought was in the mid 60's, and a pair of bulls sparring together. When we landed, I met Fred, Fred Jr. (Freddie), Rich (other guide and custom rifle builder), and Dave (Chef).

I was led to my wall tent. I had a tent to myself. Louie would start out on his own, but later another hunter would arrive and bunk with him. Maybe my snoring preceded me....

Camp:
Main tents


Inside my Tent


The way to stay warm!


Some sheds- the camp centerpiece


The mountains from camp


We sat down with Fred and talked about basic rules. I was hunting with Fred, Louie was hunting with Rich, and Freddie would be with Fred and I mostly, but wherever he was needed. Freddie is working on getting his guide license and needs to be involved with so many hunts before he can advance to registered guide. Fred Sr. is a Master Guide, and Rich who lives in Colorado is a registered guide. The rules were pretty simple. A legal bull is either 4 brow tines on one side or over 50" in spread. Fred would tell me what to do, and I was expected to do it. Fred did not want guns loaded until we were told to, and to put a round in the chamber only on the final part of the stalk at his command. Quite a bit different than Africa, and this along with the no-booze provided rule was due to his insurance company. Fred is very strict about following all the laws regarding hunting, and was very explicit about a wounded animal was my animal, and the hunt was done at that point. He also said that he reserved the right to shoot to prevent the bull from getting away. With this, he said he has never lost a wounded moose. In Alaska, you are not allowed to fly and shoot the same day, so this was a pretty laid back day. That night, with the fire in the stove lit, the tent was very comfortable.

The camp was set on a small creek that was overflowing with rainwater. The previous hunters had been swamped, with 7 straight days of rain. The day before I got there was the first day in a long time without rain, and the day that the older farmer that proceeded me with Fred got his moose. Usually its a small creek that is from glacial run off, and a good place to chill your beer. The water is gin clear and potable.



The next morning we were up early to get on the mountain to glass at sunrise. There was a good frost, which was a positive thing. The thermometer read 28 degrees this morning. It's not quite flat land sunrise, as the sun needs to get over the mountains to be seen. We were hunting on the border of the military reservation, which Fred termed "the forbidden zone." Fred at one time had permission to hunt on the AF base land, but one of the generals decided that no one was to make money by using a military reservation, so while local folks have permission to hunt there (Fred himself could) he could not guide me there. We got out to the "Glassing Hill" and started to look for moose. The moose would typically be seen on the edges of the burns, so called from the fact that they were where a forest fire had burned about 10-15 years ago. The first day, we saw a bunch of them, 12 or so bulls, but none were big enough to be legal. When we got back to camp, we were surprised to see Louie and Rich in camp already, looking relaxed. Apparently, a really nice bull showed, and Rich called him to a stop, then Louie shot him twice in the same spot with a 7mm Rem Mag, and the bull stepped a few feet and fell into the creek. They tried to do what they could, but the next day they and Freddie would retrieve him.

View of the burns we were glassing


Some of the scenery from the glassing hill


The next day, September 12, Fred and I were up at 6-6:30 and headed off. The weather was milder (34 F), and the creek was noticeably lower than it had been the day before. We managed to get the Ranger ATV stuck on our drive to the glassing mountain, and used the winch to get it out. We attached the winch to a little pine tree that looked like it would fly off when we applied power, but it held and we pulled the ATV right out with it. We spent the day looking, and saw fewer moose than the day before, but also saw a few Caribou (which only the locals, and by draw are allowed to shoot here) and a Grizzly bear and 2 cubs were gamboling about and eating berries. I tried a few that we found at the glassing site. There were blueberries (excellent), Bear berries (don't eat), and Lignonberries (a lowland cranberry) which is quite tart, but good, especially in a jam. I got to watch moose rutting behavior, which Fred described in detail before they even appeared. The male dug a wallow, and then squatted like a big immature dog, and urinated in it. He then rubbed his face in the resulting mud. Once he had his fill, then a cow rolled in it for quite a few minutes. The other cow, wanting her turn, kicked the first when it was felt to be long enough, and then took her turn. Usually the whole harem (in this case 2 cows) will take a turn in the mud. Fred said "moose sex involves a lot of piss" The males will not eat at all during the rut, and drink an inordinate amount of water to produce the required urine. The bulls will grunt and thrash their antlers in the undergrowth, but the cows are pretty vocal, and are the sound that you make to call. We saw Louie's moose when we got in. He was 59.5" and had both brow tines palmated. He ended up being the best moose of the year for Fred's outfit. I did not get in in time to see the head before they skinned it out, so I will not include a picture.

The 13th, we saw no movement until 3-4PM. It was warmer, and a few moose were seen, but again, nothing worth stalking. We also saw the sow grizzly and her cubs, which may have explained why the moose were hiding. Late in the afternoon, some local hunters from Fairbanks drove by, heading to the reservation, which could only help us. They quickly shot 2 moose, a small bull and a cow from what we could see on the spotting scope. There was also a sonic boom from one of the fighters at Eielson AFB. That afternoon, John, a retired Chevy dealer from Michigan got in to camp. He had been hunting in Saskatchewan for Elk and Bison, and had shot 2 Elk and the bison, and this was why he was late in to moose camp. We had tenderloin from Louie's moose for supper, and it was superb.

The following day we saw 8-10 bulls out on the burns. We also saw some Dall sheep on a mountain on the way to the glassing hill in the morning. We also saw a very big black bear really moving in the distance. On the way back to the camp, we ran into a bull walking towards the creek. We quickly stopped and checked him out. Fred declared him a legal bull, but small. A bit over 50", and young. He said it was up to me if I wanted him. My comment was if he felt it was small, I would hold out for something 60" or so. The bull noticed us, and started moving off. We could have gotten him, but he was moving a bit too fast to get the camera out and get a picture, which was too bad, as he was a textbook bull moose with wattle and everything.

September 15 was again a bit cold. Louie left camp today, and said he wanted to get home in time to see the next Tide game. I think that while camp was relaxing, that without any hunting or fishing he was just getting bored out there. Both John and I with the guides were out hunting from 6 AM to after 7 PM every day, and with his bull in the salt, it was time to head in. That afternoon, we decided to spot from a bit different place on the spotting hill, and saw a really big moose, that Fred thought would best 60". We rapidly raced off to get him, even though Fred was concerned as the moose was not bedded down, but rather milling about that we would not find him. We drove the ATV down to the burn and then proceeded on foot to stalk him. This was my first experience with the generalized small tussocks. These were about 2 feet in diameter, 2 feet high, soft and turn underfoot. The locals call them various names, most not very complementary. We got into the second burn area and suddenly out came a monster. I thought it had to be him, and Fred got him close, under 60 yards away, while telling me that he was a small bull, probably one that the bigger bull had driven off. This bull stood around, responded to calls, and in general gave quite a show for 30 minutes or so. Fred later told me it was a mid-50's bull. He looked nice, but we had bigger fish to fry. Fred used this bull as a training opportunity for Freddie to judge size and look him over, and get experience.

We then got into the thicker cover. We found evidence of the moose. Fred had said that the key was being quiet, and avoiding movement. We spent 4 hours playing hide and seek with the bull and his harem. We would frequently hear the bull, Fred saw an antler once, and we were seeing the cows, and were within 45 yards of them at times. In the end, we left as we were not getting into range, and while we saw the cows, the bull seemed to have disappeared.

On the ride back, we found a interesting set of tracks- Moose, grizzly, and wolf together.



The following day, September 16th, was to be the day. We got going early, and on the way out managed to kill the ATV's engine. It turns out it was vapor lock, but initially Fred thought it might be more serious. Freddie and I took our packs, rifles, and walked out and up to the glassing point, and were prepared to go on from there. Fred has a Bombardier Muskeg tractor that is basically a tank chassis with a truck cab as a back up vehicle, but it would be of no use today. Freddie and I glassed for several hours as Fred worked on the vehicle. We saw nothing of note, just a few small bulls in the distance. When Fred got to us after getting things working, he felt that we should try a different vantage point. It turns out that what he wanted to do was go to a different spot where he could observe were the bull had been hiding the day before. No sooner than we got there than he got his trusty spotting scope up, and told us that he could see a giant moose. We all looked at the moose, and he was right that when you see a big one, he just looks, well, big. We then skedaddled down to the first burn again. The trip down was rather rapid, as Fred was worried that the target might move on. We saw a smaller bull on our way in from the ATV, but while I tried to get pictures, the motion and distance were too much for the little camera. We then got out and headed in. Fred asked if I was loaded, and at that point I was. We walked a quarter mile or so, and then he told me to load one in the chamber. Within minutes, the moose was in sight. He was bedded down, and surrounded by his harem at about 170 yards. We tried to creep along the wood line to get closer, and got to just over 100 yards. Fred asked if I felt comfortable, and I said with a rest I was. Fred readied his tripod and I got ready. The moose then stood up, took a few steps and stopped. Target angle was about 40 degrees. I put the dot on his shoulder and shot. The bullet impact was loud, and I hurriedly reloaded. By the time I was on target again, he was behind the tree. Fred asked Freddie what he was doing, and if he had a shot. He was standing still, but not in sight of me. Given the thick cover, Fred asked Freddie to shoot and make sure he went down. Freddie shot. His bullet hit within 1" of mine it turns out. My shot took out the on side shoulder, went through the animal and exited just aft of the off side rib cage. Either of our shots was fully fatal, and Fred later admitted that he did not have to have Freddie shoot, but was concerned that the animal was going to get into the thickest area and make recovery a real bear. I suppose with my tremor, Fred was not real sure of how well I shot. When we got back to camp, Fred was curious as to how big he was, after estimating him as being close to 60", maybe 57"-58". The tape showed him to be a hair bigger than 58" at the widest point. He's a good representative moose.

The moose where he fell.



Some pictures of the moose with me.








Fred and Freddie.



The work was about to start...



Here is a view from where the moose fell of the Alaska range. There is some incredible scenery out here. Unfortunately, the camera did not do a good job with the stars. They are incredibly bright and with no light pollution, the sky is just bright at night. There is a reason the big dipper is on the Alaska State flag. Venus was incredible at dawn and dusk as well.





The next day I thanked everyone, tipped people, and at about noon flew back to Skip and Ann's and took care of getting the meat to the meat locker. I took one bush plane load home, and that was a bit more than half a moose. I then went back to Fairbanks and tried to get back in at Pikes, but they were full. I then went to another hotel, and crashed for the evening. The 18th I flew to Anchorage, with several delays, and then after about 1 hour of delays there, flew to Dillingham and met John Pete. Interestingly, Jason Fawcett, my guide for the bear hunt was on the same plane as I was. I thought he was a fisherman heading to salmon fishing because he carried on a fishing rod. All my goodies made it to Dillingham, and after a quick repack, John Pete took Jason and I down to Rick Grant's float plane dock and we boarded the Beaver to fly out to a higher altitude berry field. I found out that Jason is a MMA fighter, although not on a pro level basis. His nickname is "Captain Fats" because he puts on weight easily and his MMA and Sheep hunting buddies rib him about it when the season starts. Quite honestly, he doesn't carry extra weight, and I suspect the whole thing is the typical hypercritical joking that athletes give each other.

Jason



Beaver



Lake as seen from camp




Berry Field



We landed late in the afternoon and I was forcefully acquainted with the differences here and in the moose hunt. This was true wilderness hunting. We had no outhouse or toilet, no real wind break, and what we had was what we carried. This bear hunt was quite possibly the hardest thing physically I have ever done in my life. After we landed, we pulled the gear out of the plane, and let Rick take off. Jason and I began to carry our stuff over to the camp site that Jason found. Unfortunately, there was not really anywhere that was flat. The whole area was covered with the tussocks.



I was, unfortunately, not much help to Jason. He repeatedly said that he was the guide, and it was his job to do this stuff, not mine, that I was on vacation, and I should just do what I could. It sure wasn't much. We pitched the tent, got the camp together, and discussed what the plan was. The next day I was to go up one of the nearby mountains that he said were just hills. Goes to show what sheep hunters think is rough...

The following morning we hiked through maybe a half mile of tussocks and creeks filled with willows, then climbed a glassing mountain.

Tundra we crossed:



The glassing hill:



The walk gradually too less time as the hunt continued, but we ended up going further afield. The first day we saw several caribou, Ptarmigan, and some ducks, along with 2 bears that were so far in the distance that Jason knew we were not going to even try on them with my physical ability.

The second day we looked at a different hill, and really saw nothing. The wind was very stiff. At this point we called for a transfer, and were told that Rick would be in the next day if the weather was OK. We also found out that John Pete and his client had not gotten out yet due to the weather. We did have a caribou bull, maybe 2 -3 years old get within 75 yards of us. He was quite pretty, but really didn't notice us. This was a remnant of a herd that changed migration and is not hunted right now because of numbers.

The third day we called in, and were told that there would be no flight as weather was preventing anything. We went up the mountain again, and this time we saw a fairly big sow Brown Bear where we could possibly get at her. We went off on a 1 mile hike that wasn't so bad as it didn't require a lot of climbing up for me. Jason actually was pleased with how well I did with this (but still it was a limitation...) We got to another hill and started to closely observe her. We were about to go in and stalk her, when as a last minute recheck, Jason scanned a nearby spot. Suddenly he did a double take, and sat back and muttered something about a bear. 5 minutes later, he said that there was a big boar in the area. The sow then disappeared, but we were concentrating on the boar.

We continued to watch the tangle of growth surrounding a stream here. First thing we noticed was a moose, and then a pair of moose. They were both bulls. The smaller was a mid 50's shooter. The larger appeared to be in the mid 70's with 9 brow tines on his right antler. Unfortunately, when he turned he showed that he had lost his left antler in a fight or something. The reason we were seeing them is that they were being stalked by the bear, and had busted him and were leaving dodge, albeit in no great hurry. Jason would later tell me that in the rut, a big moose would fight a bear, and it was anyone's game to who won the fight. He has seen moose that got killed, and bears that were pretty chewed up and even a good boar that was killed by a bull moose. After a bit of time, and not getting a crack at the moose, the boar decided to come out and feed on the berries that the sow had been on. This was probably why the sow had left. He was big, and had fully white claws, indicating a really good bear. He also had the typical big bear rolling swagger with his head constantly down. Jason said its time to go and shoot him. We hurried up and got our gear together, and as we were ready to drop down and stalk him, Jason said we might be in trouble, that the wind was shifting. Pretty soon the boar lifted his head, and Jason said that we were done. The bear obviously sniffed some, and then turned and apparently in no great hurry, ambled off. Jason said he would not stop for 10 or more miles, and we were out of luck on him. We then glassed for the rest of the afternoon, seeing some caribou and the moose moving on. As we were ready to head back to camp, Jason spotted a really moving small Brownie coming at us. He felt that the bear had ran into our camp and was "fleeing" us. The bear eventually decided to go over the ridge to our left, and that was the last bear we saw at that camp.

For the next 6 days we didn't see a bear. Jason did go and glass some further out, but as we had busted the close bears, and I could not go to the ridges a few miles off, it was pretty depressing. Each day we looked at the weather and made repeated calls to see if we were being moved. There were a couple of false starts where we tore camp down, but ended up staying there. There were winds as high as 90 MPH in Dillingham, and even the commercial aircraft were grounded. In the meantime, food supplies were getting low. Some of the food had been damaged by mold when we received it and we were down to candy bars and Jason shot a Ruddy duck with his .44 magnum. We were contemplating shooting a caribou to eat when all of the sudden we heard Rick's smaller plane land in the lake and we hurriedly threw camp down and on to the plane.

We ended up flying to lower Togiak lake where John Pete had been hunting, and had gotten his client a good bear on the second day of hunting. This was much more like what I thought Brown Bear hunting was supposed to be. We were on a lake with spawning salmon and the bears were eating the fish. We would use a Zodiac boat to get to an exposed point and glass, and then stalk a bear that was fishing.

The lake camp:



Togiak Lake from camp.



Up river on Togiak lake.



A closer view of the glacier that we could see from camp.



We settled in and ate a full meal for the first time in a couple of days. We also looked at the terrain and were optimistic. John Pete had left a bit of info on what they had been seeing, but then we also only had 2 days to get it done. This camp was much nicer in that it was tucked in out of the wind. That night we heard bears on all sides of us, and in the morning, the dead salmon that were laying on the shore had been ate. We went up to the "better" glassing point and proceeded to watch. We saw lots of bear that morning, probably 13 or so, but they were predominantly up high in the berries. In the afternoon, we went back out and saw several fishing. There was one sow that Jason thought was smaller than the one we almost shot on the field. This bear was very predictable, but it was quite early in the day. I decided to hold out for a big bear. This very nearly was my downfall. We saw a couple of other bear at a distance, only 2 of which were on the shore. Jason said that I needed to decide what I wanted to do, but "Doc, its not looking good. There are bear here, but they are high up, and we only have tomorrow..." I then had a heart to heart with myself, and decided that even a small bear was better than no bear. I told Jason that the next legal bear, we were going for it.

The next morning I really slept in. Jason said that he glassed, but felt that I needed to sleep, and that he was not seeing bear, so he let me sleep. That afternoon we went out to the secondary point. We saw a couple of bear really high up, but no fishing bears. John Pete had said that they had been seeing some bear from camp, so at 6 PM we headed back. At about 6:45 we saw a small bear fishing on the far side of the lake. Jason said that he was small, but legal. I said that it was fine, lets go. We went after him, and he stepped into some thick willows when we finally got down to where he was. However, Jason found another pair of bears further upwind. He could not tell how big they were because of the boat bobbing in the wind. The weather was turning ugly. We landed the boat on the beach, and then Jason said that the bear was a really big boar. He became very focused and stopped joking, and almost seemed a different guy suddenly. He tersely issued his requests of keep right next to him, be quiet, and shoot when he said to, and keep shooting until the bear was down.

We started down the beach, with stops hunched behind cover when the bear stepped out to get a fish. We kept getting closer, and Jason kept quietly telling me what to do. "See the bear?"

"yes, both of them!"

"The one on the right is the one we want."

"you mean the close one?"

"yes."

"Follow behind me by one step. F'in keep up here!"

"OK."

"Stay behind!"

Suddenly he grabbed my arm, and hissed "Get up here. Shoot him when you get a chance... I am going to call, and he should freeze, then shoot!"

I had the scope at 4X with the illumination on. The weather was snowing now, and it was 12 minutes left in the day. I put the dot on the bear's onside (right) shoulder. Bearing was about 330 degrees. Range 40 yards. Offhand. Jason let a moaning bleat out and the bear raised his head and froze. I let off the shot. The silhouette rifle shooting practice paid off and I hit him perfectly. He grunted and sat for a second, and I worked the bolt. Now we had some "issues." I had left my gloves on, and as the bear started to run, my gloved finger caught the trigger and fired just as I started to swing on the bear- shot behind him. The next rapid shot was a little high, and the bear got into the brush near the lake. I reloaded, and Jason announced that we had to get to him now. The weather was getting bad, so we might not be able to track the next day, and while it looked good, we needed to get him now. He also said that I had missed the two follow up shots. He was not happy and rather intense. I said I know, and peeled off the gloves. He asked "Are you OK?" I smiled and said that I think so. "this is NOT funny. I may have to shoot if you keep this up!" I then said, Jason, if you think you need to shoot, shoot, I am not that egotistical about this!" He said "OK, lets go. You have the left, I will take the right." Within 10 yards, the bear stepped out and ran up the beach. I shot 2 times, with both looking good, and Jason fired once as it ran and again as it got into cover. I reloaded, and then he did. We again advanced. Jason later said he thought the bear was heading for the deep swamp, but the bear decided to wait in ambush. Jason was following tracks, and I was watching my side for something to come at us. Suddenly, Jason shot 3 rimes rapidly and yelled for me to get over. I ran up to the little rise and was told to shoot the bear.

"Where?"

Through the bush. Shoot now!"

Where?"

"NOW!"

I shot through the bush at a dark spot.

"Dammit you missed! Don't use the scope! Shoot!"

I shot about 6" lower.

"Reload. Get over here. I have 1 shot left. Walk up to him and shoot him through both shoulders"

I then stepped to where Jason stood and saw why he was do upset. The bear was maybe 10 feet from him, and facing away. This picture was from where Jason shot the bear, although it was taken the next day.



This is what I saw- the partial figure is Jason (the picture was again the next day, the two bear photos from the night show how dark it was...) standing near where he was shooting from.



I stepped up, and the Bear's eye followed me and I shot him for the finisher.

Jason then gave a loud whoop. He then yelled "we did it!"

It turned out that the bear was waiting for us to follow his trail. He was facing us when Jason suddenly saw him and shot him, causing him to turn and try and run. Jason's first shot was maybe 5-7 feet away, and the second and third were as the bear turned. Jason looked at where I had been and saw why I was unable to see the bear, as the willow was too thick. There was evidence that the bullets deflected by the willow.

Willows: You can see the bear behind them. (from the next day...)





Front view of the bear:



Side view:



We took some pictures and then put a plastic bag over the head to keep birds away. The fact that he was a big bruin would keep everything else away.

After a long cold ride back to camp, we had a celebratory dinner and finally got to sleep after midnight.

The next day, Jason talked to John Pete via sat phone. Apparently, John Pete said the weather was not good. He told Jason that he understood his desire to get a good bear, and we could have an extra day if we wanted. Jason then said we got a bear. Apparently he has pulled a few jokes on John, and he said that's OK, we can still hunt. Jason then said, no we shot one just as light failed. A big one. Probably 9 foot squared or maybe a bit bigger. After a bit, John Pete brought it, and asked when we would be ready. It would take a while. We needed to skin him out. We then went out and skinned the bear. I got the big camera out and got some more pictures, but as Jason was concerned about other bears and we needed to get going to get out, we did not reproduce any trophy shots.







We spent the next 3 hours getting the hide off, and got back to camp. My first shot had hit the right shoulder, and then took out a lung, and possibly the heart, and then was recovered just under the hide behind his left hind leg. Overall, we had 17 holes in the bear, with all the bullets except 1-2 fully penetrating. The bullet weighs 250.2 grains, but has some blood and crud on it. Needless to say, its better than 95% weight retention, and looks like a ad picture. The weather was not good. The two pictures below were of the same landmarks as before. The pilot needs to fly through the passes under VFR, so it became dicey about getting out in time for me to get back to join my brother and dad for the annual opening day duck shoot.




However, Rick eventually was able to get in through a hole in the weather. We got back to Dillingham with 20 minutes before the flight left to Anchorage. Unfortunately, when we called, they had already closed the flight out, so I had to spend a night in a bed and breakfast in Dillingham. I stayed at the Kingfisher House, which is a very nice place. I got to finally get really clean after 3 weeks in the Alaskan bush. I had sores and aches that I had not known about before now that I could get warm finally. I then went out for dinner with John Pete, Jason, and a couple other guides along with one of the incoming hunters. It took me about 3 hours to get everything repacked for the flight home after dinner, I think more because I was just out of it. The next day I made some calls to verify flights, and Shawn called me to make sure everything was OK. Apparently the airlines had done some silliness with the rebooking, but she got it straightened out.

John Pete and Jason drove me out to the airport and I started home.

In Anchorage I visited with Shean Hardisty, who is one of the sons of my taxidermist, and runs D&C Expediters, who are one of the largest shippers of trophies from Alaska. I got to see my moose rack here, as Fred had brought it in already. I also saw a HUGE collection of Dall sheep horns, grizzly and black bear skulls, caribou racks, and moose racks. It was quite a sight, and Shean answered a bunch of questions about the taxidermy issues.

I then made the Delta redeye back to Minnesota. I did not sleep for squat on the ride back, so I slept the whole car ride home (probably to Mom's disgust), and made the duck opener only 1 hour late.

The biggest lessons I learned here are: I am not really anywhere near in good enough shape to do a true wilderness mountain hunt- I will need horses or ATV's until I loose some weight. Sheep shape? HA! more like bar stool shape....

Secondly, the weather will waylay any plans you may have in Alaska. I expected to loose a day or two of hunting due to it, but I didn't conceive of the issues with travel and its true unpredictability.

I will not piggyback cold weather hunts like this again. I think it really started to take its toll on me, and this is the first time I've been glad to get home after a hunting trip.

Thanks for looking at this longwinded report.

edited to fix pic's...sorry

Looks like you had a great season. John and Jason are both great guys and fund to share camp with.

AWESOME!!!!!!!
W.

Thoroughly enjoyed your excellent report. Thanks for sharing it with us. Awesome trophies.

Great report and pictures,2 great animals!!

Way to tough it out!

Charles,

That was a great report. I was right there with you particularly on the bear as I lived in that country for over 20 years expereincing that amazing weather.

Adam and I are very happy we could assist you with your incredible adventure.

Congrats on some very nice trophies. Atcheson Taxidermy will take good care of them.

Mark

Thanks, guys!

I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing the thing.

Mark,

I can see why you got out of there to somewhere with a more "reasonable" climate!

Thanks for your help.

Chuck Butler

Chuck,

Thanks for taking the time to do the write up and thanks for us wishers at home how important it is to be ready for the demands of the hunt.

Tim

Great report and photos. John is a great guy, and you got some really nice trophies...

Great animals and great report!! Congratulations!

Good job guys! Looks like you had fun.

Good write up and pics Chuck, thanks for sharing, quite interesting, Waidmannsheil on your hunt, Dom.

yup - not bad for a guy that can't hit a bull in the azz with a spade

Congradulations, this is one of my deam hunts.

Nice write-up and pics; congrats on a great trip, and thanks for taking the time!

That is a memorable hunt. Congratulations on your success

Thanks guys!

It was a lot of fun to write it up and having folks look at it make it worthwhile.

Great report. Congrats. And very happy you chose to share your story.

That was great! Thoroughly enjoyed reading that, thanks. You had a great trip!

You did an outstanding job on all accounts; planning, hunting, taking pics and especially telling the story. I've been to Alaska enough times to just about put myself in your shoes when I read your story. Looks to be an awesome awesome bear.

Alan

Great report. Both of those hunts are on my bucket list for the near future, and reading that has gotten me even more excited.